EIS Versions

Airbus has two generations of its Electronic Instrument System (EIS). The first generation EIS 1 uses CRT screens for its Display Units (DU's). Around mid 2002, Airbus introduced a new second generation EIS 2 that uses LCD screens for its DU's.

Beyond the new hardware choice of screens, there are also differences in software. EIS 2 has significant improvements with regard to visual representation of data on PFD, ND and ECAMs.

These improvements are the results of several years of experience, some of which come from changes triggered by investigation reports, like the BEA Incident Report of a near miss mid air collision of two Airbus airplanes.

Until present, our A320 Simulator Software has implemented the EIS 1 standard, but the work has started to also implement the EIS 2 standard. This is a big development effort, but at the same time it is also an investment in cleaning up legacy code and making sure that the PFD, ND and ECAMs in future can also run on Raspberry Pi.

The PFD re-coding has been finalized and the PFD is now available in EIS 1 (left side picture) and EIS 2 (right side picture). If you would still spot something that is not correct, then we are happy to hear about it in the comments below this blog post.

The system where the difference between EIS 1 and EIS 2 is the most visible is the ECAM. In the video below you see the Upper ECAM with EIS 1 and EIS 2 versions of the same display side by side (Left side is EIS 1 and right side is EIS2). The video shows the ENG 2 being started, followed by ENG 1 being started and finaly the Flaps/Slats being extended. The way in which the Flaps/Slats are drawn is a piece of art by the engineers at Airbus and is very different in both EIS versions. It has taken me quite some time to get this programmed fully accurate in my A320 Simulator Software.